Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-4hvwz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-25T15:23:48.603Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The use of culture, pooled samples and PCR for identification of herds infected with Brachyspira hyodysenteriae

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2007

Claes Fellström*
Affiliation:
Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Uppsala, Sweden
Ulla Zimmerman
Affiliation:
Department of Bacteriology, National Veterinary Institute, Uppsala, Sweden
Anna Aspan
Affiliation:
Department of Bacteriology, National Veterinary Institute, Uppsala, Sweden
Anders Gunnarsson
Affiliation:
Department of Bacteriology, National Veterinary Institute, Uppsala, Sweden
*
*Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7018, SE-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden. E-mail: Claes.Fellstrom@kirmed.slu.se

Abstract

The sensitivity of culturing Brachyspira hyodysenteriae was determined after sampling with swabs from porcine fecal specimens inoculated with tenfold dilutions of a field strain of these microbes. After storage of swabs, Brachyspira hyodysenteriaewas recovered throughout the first 3 weeks after inoculation from feces with more than 140 cells/g. Viable spirochetes could still be recovered after up to 83 days of storage from feces, with 1.4 × 106 cells or more per gram. Culture for Brachyspira spp. was performed on 285 rectal swabs, which were pooled in batches of five. The number of pooled samples positive for B. hyodysenteriae corresponded with the sum results of individual analysis of the corresponding collections of five samples. A PCR system based on the tlyA gene of B. hyodysenteriae was developed and tested on primary cultures of pooled samples. The results of the PCR assay showed a 97% correlation with the culture results. The prevalence of Brachyspira spp. was determined in five swine herds and found to be highest among breeding gilts and boars aged 13–16 weeks and among 6–12-week-old weaned pigs. In contrast, Brachyspiraspp. were only rarely found in sows, which may reflect the development of immunity by adult pigs to all species of the genus.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © CAB International 2001

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Atyeo, RF, Oxberry, SL, Combs, BG and Hampson, DJ (1998). Development and evaluation of polymerase chain reaction tests as an aid to diagnosis of swine dysentery and intestinal spirochaetosis. Letters in Applied Microbiology 26: 126130.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chia, SP and Taylor, DJ (1978). Factors affecting the survival of Treponema hyodysenteriae in dysenteric pig faeces. Veterinary Record 103:6870.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Elder, RO, Duhamel, GE, Schafer, RW, Mathiesen, MR and Ramanthan, M (1994). Rapid detection of Serpulina byo-dysenteriae in diagnostic specimen by PCR. Journal of Clinical Microbiology 32: 14971502.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fellström, C and Gunnarsson, A (1995). Phenotypical characteri-sation of intestinal spirochaetes isolated from pigs. Research in Veterinary Science 59: 14.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fellström, C, Karlsson, M, Pettersson, B, Zimmerman, U, Gunnarsson, A and Aspan, A (1999). Emended descriptions of indole negative and indole positive isolates of Brachyspira (Serpulina) hyodysenteriae. Veterinary Microbiology 70: 225238.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fisher, LF and Olander, HJ (1981). Shedding of Treponema hyo-dysenteriae, transmission of disease, and agglutinin response of pigs convalescent from swine dysentery. American Journal of Veterinary Research 42: 450455.Google ScholarPubMed
Hampson, DL (2000). The Serpulina story. In: Proceedings of the 16th International Pig Veterinary Society Congress, pp. 15.Google Scholar
Harris, DL and Glock, RD (1981). Swine dysentery. In: Leman, AD, Glock, RD, Mengeling, WL, Penny, RHC, Scholl, E and Straw, B (eds), Diseases of Swine, 5th edn. Ames: Iowa State University Press, pp.432444.Google Scholar
Harris, DL, Glock, RD, Christensen, CR and Kinyon, JM (1972). Swine dysentery. I. Inoculation of pigs with Treponema hyodysenteriae (new species) and reproduction of the disease. Veterinary Medicine and Small Animal Clinician 67: 6164.Google Scholar
Hommez, J, Castryck, F, Haesebrouck, F and Devriese, LA (1998). Identification of porcine Serpulina strains in routine diagnostic bacteriology. Veterinary Microbiology 62: 163169.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kinyon, JM and Harris, DL (1979). Treponema innocens, a new species of intestinal bacteria, and emended description of the type strain of Treponema hyodysenteriae . International Journal of Systematic Bacteriology 29: 102109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kinyon, JM, Harris, DL and Glock, RD (1980). Isolation of Treponema hyodysenteriae from experimentally infected pigs at various intervals post-inoculation. In: Proceedings of the 6th International Pig Veterinary Society Congress, p. 232.Google Scholar
Leser, TD, Møller, K, Jensen, TK and Jorsal, SE (1997). Specific detection of Serpulina hyodysenteriae and potentially pathogenic weakly β-haemolytic porcine intestinal spirochetes by polymerase chain reaction targeting 23S rDNA. Molecular and Cellular Probes 11: 363372.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ochiai, S, Adachi, Y and Mori, K (1997). Unification of the genera Serpulina and Brachyspira, and proposals of Brachyspira hyodysenteriae comb. nov., Brachyspira innocens comb. nov. and Brachyspira pilosicoli comb. nov. Microbiology and Immunology 41: 445452.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pettersson, B, Fellström, C, Andersson, A, Uhlén, M, Gunnarsson, A and Johansson, K-E (1996). The phylogeny of intestinal porcine spirochetes (Serpulina species) based on sequence analysis of the 16S rRNA gene. Journal of Bacteriology 178: 41894199.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stanton, TB, Fournié-Amazouz, E, Postic, D, Trott, DJ, Grimont, PAD, Baranton, G, Hampson, DJ and Saint Girons, I (1997). Recognition of two new species of intestinal spirochetes: Serpulina intermedia sp. nov. and Serpulina murdochii sp. nov. International Journal of Systematic Bacteriology 47: 10071012.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Taylor, DJ, Lysons, RJ, Bew, J, Stevenson, R and Lemcke, RM (1985). Survival of Treponema hyodysenteriae in samples of dysenteric pig feces sent by post and stored at room temperature. Veterinary Record 116: 4849.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
ter Huurne, AAHM, Muir, S, van Houten, M, van der Zeijst, BAM, Gaastra, W and Kusters, JG (1994). Characterization of three putative Serpulina hyodysenteriae hemolysins. Microbial Pathogenesis 16: 269282.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Trott, DJ, Stanton, TB, Jensen, NS, Duhamel, GE, Johnson, JL and Hampson, DJ (1996). Serpulina pilosicoli sp. nov.: the agent of porcine intestinal spirochetosis. International Journal of Systematic Bacteriology 46: 206215.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed